Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma City, the power play and Ryan Stoa dovetailed to help Lake Erie win.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As of mid-November, the Monsters had two glaring weaknesses -- one collective, one individual. Their power play was almost comically bad, and prospect center Ryan Stoa kept misfiring.
The weaknesses are now strengths.
Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma City, the power play and Stoa dovetailed to help Lake Erie win, 5-3, at The Q.
Stoa authored easily his best game of the season, scoring two goals -- both on the power play -- and working hard at the other end. His second goal was sensational.
Stoa has bagged six goals in his last six games after an o-fer in 16 games to begin the season. As a rookie in 2009-2010, Stoa notched 23 goals in 54 games for Lake Erie and two in 12 for the parent Colorado Avalanche.
"Early in the year, I didn't think I was playing terribly," Stoa said. "I just wasn't getting the bounce here or the bounce there."
The Monsters (11-9-2-2) have won five of eight. They finally solved the expansion Barons, who had beaten them in the first three of a six-game season series, including 3-2 in overtime Friday night at The Q.
The Barons (13-7-1-1) slipped to 6-2-0-0 on the road. They lost despite a 31-18 advantage in shots, 24-8 in the final two periods.
Lake Erie took a 1-0 lead at 7:49 of the first when center Mark Olver punched in a rebound. Olver had a goal Friday night.
With the Monsters on the power play at 19:17, Stoa worked free and used the backhand to knock a rebound into an open net.
The Monsters extended their streak of games with a power-play goal to five. Before the run commenced, they had not gone back-to-back games with a power-play tally.
Oklahoma City pulled within 2-1 early in the third period. Defenseman Jeff Petry, son of former Detroit Tigers right-hander Dan Petry, beat goalie Trevor Cann while the Barons had the man-advantage.
Scoring against the Monsters' penalty kill qualifies as a feat. They entered ranked third in the AHL with an 88.5-percent efficiency. At home, their 94.7-percent mark was best in the league.
Barons center Brad Moran tied it with an even-strength goal at 3:42 of the third. At that point, the tired Monsters appeared to be reeling. But they righted themselves in a hurry behind goals from Ben Walter (4:20) and Kevin Montgomery (power play, 7:38).
Oklahoma City cut the deficit to 4-3 before Stoa's power-play goal at 17:45. Stoa refused to be denied, fighting off his man and firing the puck into an open net. He left his feet after being pushed.
"Coach harps on me all the time to take the puck wide, and that's what I did," he said. "Before I knew it, I was upside down."
Lake Erie finished 3-for-5 on the power play. Its eight power-play goals in the last five games are two more than its total from the previous 19 games. "Even when we were struggling, I thought we'd have a good power play," Quinn said. "We've been getting pucks to the net and haven't been standing still."
The Monsters completed a stretch of eight games in 11 days, going 5-2-1-0.
"I couldn't be more proud of the guys," Quinn said. "They competed hard throughout, and now they'll get some well-deserved rest."
The Monsters' next game is Friday against Chicago at home.